How to Make Money on Shopify? (All Possible Ways)

Imagine that somebody never bought anything online! Hard to believe, right?

Well, even if you find such a person, they certainly know that Amazon is one of the biggest multinational companies in the world and that the e-commerce industry is a big deal.

And if you think about earning money online, we bet that one of the first thoughts will be related to e-commerce.

You are one of the people who want to venture into the e-commerce business. You learned about e-commerce strategies and technical requirements to start your own business, and then naturally came across Shopify.

Shopify is the best e-commerce platform, a legit business that will give you all the tools needed to become a successful merchant.

However, to earn money, you will need way more than just technical assets and the initial investment. Luckily, you came to the right place, and in this guide, we will show you how to make money with Shopify.

Why trust us?

• We're the creators of Bloggle, a dynamic Shopify blog builder available on the Shopify App Store that fills the gaps in native Shopify blogging capabilities.
• We're a global force: 3000+ merchants across 60 countries have trusted us to amplify their voices.
• Your peers adore us: We have a stellar 4.8/5 rating on the app store.

Firstly, can you even make money with Shopify?

Yes, you can make money with Shopify! You need a six-step journey that will set the course for your success:

1. Build a modern, good-looking website (Bloggle will help!)

2. Focus on SEO

3. Don’t neglect social media

4. Craft an engaging newsletter

5. Create and test ad campaigns

6. Analyze your efforts

1. Build a modern, good-looking website

The Shopify store is not different from any other website out there. If you don’t make a website that is visually appealing, everything else can be great, but you won’t be getting visitors and conversions.

The most important thing in an e-commerce business is showcasing your products, services, or anything else that you are selling in a way that is appealing to your visitors.

There are many Shopify apps that can help you with building your website. One of them is Shogun, a complete, drag-and-drop page builder, which will give you more options and design capabilities than the default Shopify installation.

Bloggle can help as well! Since a blog is very important for converting, you also need more in this department. Bloggle is very customizable and will help you with SEO and another essential condition in your quest of making money with Shopify — user experience. 

If your online store doesn’t have a clean and logical design, that is easy to navigate and finds every important bit of information everyone is searching for before finally making a purchase, then you will fail to convert the vast majority of your visitors. And, you can always plug a dog on your landing page, that will certainly have a positive impact.

2.      Focus on SEO

Having great organic traffic is ultra helpful for any website, e-commerce stores included. If you manage to beat your competition for buying keywords, you will have an influx of customers who come to your website essentially for free.

‍Blogging on Shopify is not easy, but if you follow our guidelines and our SEO checklist you should be fine.

In a nutshell, you need to do deep keyword research and try to match the search intent of your potential visitors with your website and your blog posts.

3.      Don’t neglect social media

Social media is another free resource you can utilize to promote your Shopify store. The brands that can successfully harness the power of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms are at an advantage over their competitors.

Being creative, unique, sometimes quirky, and out of the box can gain you followers, and there are lots of brands you can learn from.

Beauty brands such as Kylie Cosmetics are a good example, since they are taking advantage of the influencer status of their CEO, and always have visually appealing campaigns, that are best suitable for social media platforms. Other successful Shopify stores also have a very developed social media presence and and recognizable brand.

4.      Craft an engaging newsletter

Back in the day, newsletters could be just informational pieces about new products and discounts that a merchant sends to his potential customers.

‍Today, when we get spammed all the time, you need to be unique and creative in order to get your email opened. There are several essential tips you need to follow:

• Come up with an amazing subject line
  69% of the users decide if an email is spam based on the subject alone
• Use graphics, don’t send a wall of text
  almost half of the emails are opened on mobile devices in 2024, and mobile users are more likely to interact with images
• Reward engagement
  offering discounts, and promoting products and sales exclusively via newsletter will make the users who open your emails special. They will continue opening your emails because they know you could offer them a great deal
• Content quality decides the frequency of sending emails
  A weekly newsletter is a standard, but if you have more content (or less) to include in emails, you should definitely follow that. Posting just for the sake of remaining on a schedule will do you more harm than good.

Here is how Sephora does it:

5.      Create and test ad campaigns 

Everybody would love to have commercial success by investing their time and expertise only. Nobody wants to pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars monthly for ads, but in 2024, it is a necessity.

It is pretty hard to scale a business without investing in ad campaigns. On the other hand, it is easy to “break the bank” if you don’t invest your money properly. Your goal is to get the best return on ad spend (ROAS).

To do that, you will need to go through the trial-and-error process to figure out what works best for your business.

It is easy to lose yourself in numerous strategies you’ll be able to find online, but you’re in luck — we will give you straightforward tips for key ingredients of every successful ad campaign that you will custom craft in the future.

The core of e-commerce promotion is Google, so we will focus on Google ads here. Of course, the principles we will talk about here are the same for social media ads as well. Here is how you’ll get the most for your buck:

• Prioritize your bestsellers first
  The easiest way to test if your ad strategy is working is to prioritize the products you already sell. You just need to make sure you are showing your ads to the right target group and measure the effect.
• Optimize your Google Product Feed for maximum performance
  As a merchant, you will use Google Shopping ads. To succeed with it, Google Product data feed is essential. Ensure your feed contains all the relevant product information. By doing that, customers will see you as a legit and transparent business, and you’ll earn their trust.
• Let Google optimize your Google ad campaigns
  Google is heading towards automation, which is not highly appreciated by advertisers, but new, inexperienced merchants will benefit from that. It is true that Google wants to take your money, but it will need to give you something in return because you’ll stop paying it if your ads don’t bring results.
• Utilize retargeting
  Most common people find retargeting ads annoying, but the data shows they convert really well! Google Shopping allows you to automatically show responsive display ads to visitors who left your site without completing a purchase. Put best-selling items into your display and roll with it!

6.      Analyze your efforts

In the end, you should look back at all you did and conduct an unbiased analysis. The ultimate goal of your efforts is to make a profit, but you shouldn’t be hasty with changing the strategies that seemingly don’t work.

It takes time to implement all of these strategies, and most of the organic efforts, such as SEO, take at least three months on average if not more, to give results.

You can test and play with your Google and social media ads more since they need less time to show effectiveness, but the most important thing is to know this is not a sprint, this is a marathon.

‍Adding GA4 to Shopify is the important first step in that marathon, as well as the Google ads conversion tracking when you decide to invest in that department.

What can you sell on Shopify to make money?

You may be a master seller and learn everything there is to know about Shopify, but still, you won’t be successful if you don’t choose the right product. Luckily, there are a ton of potential opportunities and many niches you can venture into, and we will give you insight from our experience working with enterprise Shopify sellers.

If you want to get a general idea about how to make money on Shopify, you should check out the best Shopify stores, and go from there. After that, you should learn the most common general categories in the e-commerce business:

• Physical products
• Digital products
• Print-on-demand products
• Handmade products
• Dropshipping

We will explain each of these categories in detail, show you the sub-niches beneath them, and some of the most successful stores in these categories.

Physical products

Physical products are the most common goods you will buy both in online and physical stores. The range is from dog food, via toys for toddlers, to swimming wear and jewelry. There are two approaches for merchants who are selling physical products. Most of them will specialize in a category of products, for example, electronics.

Some of them will go even deeper by targeting specific products, and they’ll sell only luxury watches. Bigger merchants won’t specialize in a specific category, and they will offer many different categories of products to their customers.

If you are just starting out, it is better to find your niche and specialize in a specific type of product. Here are the most common categories of physical products:

• Clothing and apparel
• Accessories (jewelry, watches, purses)
• Home goods (furniture, décor, kitchenware)
• Electronics (gadgets, accessories)
•  Beauty products (skincare, makeup, haircare)
• Health products (supplements, fitness gear)
• Toys and games
• Pet supplies

Clothing and apparel

This category includes all kinds of wearable items like shirts, pants, dresses, and outerwear. There are many different stores in this category.

‍One store can offer general wearable items, but there are many that specialize in specific equipment. One of the examples is Gymshark, a very successful Shopify store, specializing in fitness apparel.

Accessories (jewelry, watches, purses)

Accessories are products following clothing and apparel. They usually complete the look of a person, but they are usually not mixed and sold in the same store.

‍There are more merchants who specialize in even smaller sub-niches here, such as stores selling fine jewelry exclusively, so have that in mind if you want to venture into this category.

An example of a successful Shopify store in this category is Mejuri, which sells fine jewelry.

Home goods (Furniture, decor, kitchenware)

Home goods include items that are typically used in the living space, from furniture to decorative items and kitchenware.

You might think that these types of items are overwhelmingly bought in physical stores, but the number of people who will buy a couch, or storage items online is growing every day. The most important thing in this category is to be very specific with the dimensions and other physical characteristics of the product you are selling.

By doing that,  you will seem more trustworthy and transparent to your customers, raising your sales in the process. Brooklinen, a Shopify store selling high-quality bedding and home essentials, is a standout example of a successful store in this category.

Electronics (gadgets, accessories)

This category includes various electronic gadgets and their accessories, such as headphones, smartwatches, laptops, TVs, and smartphones.

‍This category is similar to clothing and apparel in a way because you can see the same distribution of merchants specializing in a specific type of product and merchants that sell everything.

If you are starting out small, it is better to focus on selling specific products, such as smartphones, or computer equipment exclusively. Mophie, known for its innovative phone chargers and accessories, is a notable store in this segment.

Beauty products (skincare, makeup, haircare)

Beauty products cover skincare, makeup, and hair care items. These types of products were always popular among women, but in the 21st century, even beauty products for men are gaining popularity.

‍The nature of this niche suggests that famous and beautiful models who represent the ideal female of the time will be ideal for promoting these types of products.

It is no wonder that Kylie Cosmetics, owned by a famous influencer Kylie Jenner, is one of the most successful Shopify stores that sells makeup products.

Health Products (supplements, fitness gear)

Health products include dietary supplements, fitness equipment, and wellness items. There is an interesting crossover here, which many merchants are using — you can sell fitness apparel together with supplements and fitness equipment since the target audience for these products is the same.

‍Bulletproof, which offers supplements and healthy foods, is an example of a more specialized merchant, which is not focused on all products related to the gym.

Toys and Games

This category features products for entertainment and learning for children and adults, including toys, board games, and puzzles.

When it comes to specialization in this niche, it is not as prominent as in most of the other niches we previously mentioned. However, there is certainly a space for it. For instance, board games are getting increasingly popular among younger audiences, and marketing yourself as a specialized board games dealer might be beneficial. Toys "R" Us operates a successful Shopify store selling a wide variety of toys.

Pet supplies

Pet supplies include food, toys, grooming products, and accessories for pets. With general knowledge about pet care reaching new heights in the last two decades, and with the rise of standards, love, and willingness to buy items for your pets, this industry is exponentially growing. 

‍If you want to establish yourself in it, specializing either for cats or dogs is better than including items for all pets. BarkBox, a subscription service for dog products, is an example of a successful Shopify store of that kind.

Digital products

Digital products are, naturally, products that you buy and download on your computer. It was incomprehensible only a few decades ago that this industry would be so developed but in 2024. there is a huge market for digital products, and the audience is constantly growing.

The array of digital products that are sold online is wider than you’ll find in Shopify stores. Music, movies, and other digital content is found and downloaded elsewhere. Typically, Shopify stores sell these types of digital products:

• PDFs
• Ebooks
• Online courses

PDFs

PDFs can range from printable planners and worksheets to templates and guides. This is a very niche market, and you should tap into this only if you intend to create very specific products.

One of the examples of such a website is Teach Starter, which is a Shopify store selling digital PDF resources for entrepreneurs. 

Ebooks

Ebooks cover a wide array of genres and topics, offering downloadable reading material. When we say “ebook”, we typically think about a digital book that is used for learning something, but that doesn’t have to be the case.

A wide array of fantasy, non-fantasy, poetry, and similar types of ebooks emerged in the last 15 years.

‍Today, you probably can find everything you want both in digital and physical variations of a book.  Blurb is a Shopify store where users can create and sell their own ebooks.

Online courses

Online courses include educational content across various subjects, delivered through video, text, and interactive modules. There are dedicated platforms for online courses, and content creators specialized for this niche only.

You can use Shopify for secure transactions, and  Teachable is that type of platform. Many instructors host their online courses on various themes there.

Print-on-demand products

Print-on-demand products have been very popular in the past few years. This industry is great for both sellers and buyers because of some unique aspects.

You can embrace your creativity and become recognizable globally with your designs, with a very small investment.

Also, the buyers are very dedicated to their brands, because they are building a unique style and even connecting with other people with similar interests. There are numerous types of print-on-demand products, but these five categories are the most common:

• Custom T-shirts
• Mugs
• Posters
• Phone cases
• Stationery

Custom T-Shirts

These are personalized or unique designs printed on t-shirts upon order. You can usually make any request to the seller, but most of the stores are trying to make their own style which will drive customers in. TeeSpring is a popular store in this field.

Mugs

Custom mugs feature personalized designs or messages printed on them. They are a great affordable gift for a birthday and can also become a valuable one-time asset in a social media post. Printful offers a variety of print-on-demand products, including custom mugs.

Posters

Posters can be custom-designed prints for home decor or promotional purposes. We all had them in our bedrooms as kids, but with print-on-demand, you can now print whatever you want, not just buy already available posters that can sometimes look bland and uninteresting.

‍For fans, such as Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings fans posters can be an important part of home decor. Society6 is known for its artist-designed posters and prints.

Phone cases

Print-on-demand phone cases are another category of product that has increased demand in the last several years. The designs of phone cases are not much different than mugs, you can print anything that goes on a typical mug, even a t-shirt. Casetify allows customers to create custom phone cases with their own designs.

Stationery

Custom stationery includes personalized notebooks, planners, and other paper products. Remember how you wanted a specific notebook when you were a kid, and neither of the other designs interested you?

Now you can make your own design and let your creativity fly! Papier offers beautifully designed and customizable stationery products.

Handmade products

Handmade products were selling way before many of the other products we mentioned in this guide, but digitalization gave them a platform they never had before.

Handmade products can be very different in nature, and the most important thing to know from a seller’s perspective is that a combination of uniqueness and practicality is usually what sells them.

These are the four main categories of handmade products:

• Crafts
• Handmade jewelry
• Custom-made clothing
• Personalized gifts

Crafts

Handmade crafts include a wide range of artisanal products such as pottery, knitting, and woodworking. Or anything else really, there is no boundaries in this niche, the more unique the better. Etsy sellers often use Shopify to expand their craft businesses.

Handmade jewelry

Handmade jewelry is different from regular, or high-end jewelry because of the materials, craftsmanship, and unique style. Rellery is a Shopify store known for its handcrafted jewelry.

Custom-made clothing

Custom-made clothing offers personalized fits and designs are catered to the customer’s specifications.

‍Custom-made clothing is popular because of the need for people to be unique and send a statement to others. Sumissura is a successful Shopify store selling custom-made apparel.

Personalized gifts

Personalized gifts can range from custom-engraved items to very specific items that will have a huge emotional value for the receiver. These products can be physical or digital. Personalization Mall offers a variety of customizable gifts through their Shopify store.

Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a business model where items bought from an online store are shipped directly to customers by the supplier or manufacturer.

If you have a dropshipping store and make a sale, it forwards the order to a supplier, who then handles delivery to the customer.

‍This is the primary reason why dropshipping has become popular lately. Store owners can focus on marketing and branding, without having to think about shipping and delivery. These are the items that get dropshipped most often:

• Trending items
• Niche products
• General consumer goods

Trending items

These are popular items that are in high demand across various niches. The key to exploiting the trend is getting it early. When you see others selling products built around a viral thing, it is already too late to jump into the wagon.

‍Oberlo is a well-known Shopify app that helps entrepreneurs find trending products for dropship.

Niche products

Niche products cater to specific interests or hobbies, such as specialty tools or unique gadgets. These products represent a true micro-niche market, and it is very hard to say how things will pan out for the seller who’s entering it.

The rule of thumb is to be very knowledgeable about the type of items you will sell, and it will make the chances for your success higher. Spocket is a Shopify app that connects dropshippers with niche products from suppliers.

General consumer goods

This subcategory includes everyday items used by a wide range of consumers. This type of product stands in complete opposite to the products we mentioned above.

‍AliExpress dropshipping through Shopify is popular for a variety of general consumer goods.

FAQ

How can I effectively use dropshipping to make money on Shopify?

By partnering with reliable suppliers and focusing on trending, high-demand products, you can minimize upfront costs and manage inventory efficiently.

What are the best ways to drive traffic to my Shopify store?

Utilize social media marketing, SEO optimization, and paid advertising campaigns to attract potential customers and increase store visibility.

How do I optimize my Shopify store for conversions?

Focus on a great user experience with a mobile-friendly design, fast loading times, and clear call-to-actions to guide visitors toward making a purchase.

Summing things up

In this guide, we showed you how to make money on Shopify, and gave you insights about different niches and products that you can successfully sell on Shopify.

Venturing into the e-commerce world is not easy or straightforward, but with the right approach and preparation we presented in this article, you can start your journey today, and Bloggle will be a fantastic ally, in making your store a standout, beautiful converting machine!